CORONAVIRUS: WHAT ARE SEROLOGICAL TESTS AND WHAT ARE THEY FOR?

Serological tests measure a specific immune response against an infectious agent. In the case of COVID-19, they are used to detect if the body has created antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and, in this way, to know if the person is or was infected, taking into account that these defenses are specific to each microorganism (or in general for each antigen) and that its presence indicates that the body learned to recognize the virus and attack it.

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Although they serve to diagnose the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) only recommends their use to determine if someone was exposed to the virus, since these tests only begin to be reliable, on average, eight days after the onset of symptoms (according to some studies) after the body has produced enough antibodies, four days later than would be diagnosed by RT-PCR tests. Four key days that appear to be the infectious peak of the disease.